A/N: This is Teen Tyrant, Miss Starfire's Hubby, and I am posting this entry on her behalf. Miss Starfire has decided to step up her timetable and post this now for everyone, seeing how hard the last chapter was to take. She is visiting her parents right now and is unable to respond to your reviews via PM as she normally does before posting a new chapter. She sends her sincerest apologies to all of you for not following through on the routine for this occasion, but she believes that the outcome of this Epilogue will make it worthwhile for you guys. Enjoy!

Epilogue

This time, Rhodey found the ginger in the laundry room, desperately looking for something to occupy herself with. Her quick escape from the bedroom, just minutes ago, had been a clear indication that this was going to be a long night for the both of them, making him more than just glad that he had an entire week off from work. His only hope was that James did not wake up again tonight; as this would be the icing on the cake to the most difficult time he had experienced as of yet, at trying to lessen the redhead's anxiety and feelings of guilt.

He had begun to notice that, whenever an anniversary of the war came around, Pepper's vulnerability tended to spike. This particular anniversary, however, the one that marked six months since the war had ended, had been too close to another fond date to her: the inventor's birthday, which had taken place just two weeks before. He had pretended that he had not realized it, but Rhodey knew that Pepper had cried a river that night, all the while holding onto Tony's dog tags.

At this point in the game, and seeing how the ginger was getting worse and worse rather than just even a little bit better as more time went by, perhaps what Pepper truly needed from her friend was a massive wakeup call. Cruelty was not something James Rhodes was known for, but it appeared to him that continuing to allow the redhead to wallow in self-pity was actually crueler than helping her move on.

"Didn't Glenda just do the laundry yesterday?" Rhodey joined Pepper inside the laundry room to see Pepper refolding perfectly clean towels. "That's kinda the point of having help around here, no? For you to NOT do chores yourself?"

"Yes," Pepper refolded the same towel for the nth time, glad that Rhodey was not bringing up the topic she was trying to avoid – the reason she had ran out of the bedroom. "But I'm going crazy here with nothing to do. You'd think I'd be busier, with a very curious 2-year-old running around all the time."

Rhodey leaned the right side of his hip against the washing machine to closely watch Pepper make use of the top of the dryer to keep her hands and mind busy with the task at hand.

"Well," he shrugged, "He doesn't act like a regular toddler."

"Yeah, I know," Pepper smirked, extremely proud of her well-behaved son. "Tony is very clean."

Pepper, caught up in her own little world, completely missed Rhodey's rather obvious flinch.

"Tony?" he carefully and slowly repeated the genius' name when it became evident to him that Pepper was not yet aware of her slip-up.

"I mean: Howie," she immediately flinched herself at her use of the nickname the child's father had given him. "Jimmy," she shook her head. "I meant: Jimmy."

To avoid Rhodey seeing the tears her rolling blunder of just now had caused, Pepper decided to abandon her plan of refolding towels, practically jogged out of the laundry room, headed towards the kitchen, rummaged through the pantry for a second, and then took out a jar of pickles that her shaky and sweating hands prevented her from opening.

"Here, Pepper. Let me," Rhodey extended his hand to her, but the redhead simply shook her head.

"No, I got it."

It was not clear to Rhodey how she was going to open the jar, save perhaps by using a burst of Extremis strength. Her actual game plan, however, made his eyes widen in surprise. He had honestly forgotten that the ginger had allowed the inventor to add to her abilities repertoire what she was about to do to solve her little predicament.

Before his eyes, and while still holding the unopened glass jar in her left hand, Pepper extended her right arm, aimed it towards the hall and, in a matter of seconds, her arm became covered in Rescue's gauntlet. She then used the piece of her armor to pop the jar open with no issue, extended her right arm again to return the gauntlet to its secure location, and then began distractedly chewing on a small portion of the treat.

"Pickles?" Rhodey asked with honest curiosity, his head slightly tilted to the right, his arms resting on the kitchen counter to lean closer to her location.

"I'm out of Kit Kats," she practically pouted, and Rhodey instantly became unwilling and unable to do a reality-check for her tonight. It was obvious that the redhead's emotions were extremely volatile at the moment. Perhaps a dose of tough love from him, no matter how small, was not what she truly needed right now.

"I'll get you some tomorrow," Rhodey walked closer to his friend, hugged her from the side, and kissed her forehead. Pepper sniffled once, nodded, pressed her head against his chest, and then mumbled her thanks.

"Are you hungry?" she suddenly asked, her left palm landing on his abdomen, just now realizing that she had not made enough food for the three of them because she had not expected him to return from his mission tonight. It had been four hours since he had been home, and she now felt like the worst friend and hostess in the entire universe for overlooking the fact that Rhodey also needed looking after.

"Nah, not really."

"Are you sure?" she patted his stomach twice. "I can make you some pan–"

The sound of the doorbell ringing not only cut off her sentence, but it also set them both on high alert when it dawned on them that it was nearly midnight on a workday. They were not expecting anyone to drop by. It was too late for the visitor to even be around. And since no one in their close circle of family and friends ever visited them unannounced, the identity of the sudden guest made their vigilante personas come out.

The instances had been few and far between but, somehow, some individuals who were angry at the way the Doom War had turned out had tried harming the surviving members of the resistance, claiming they were doing the world some real justice. Most people who were in disagreement with how the counterattack had been handled were just crazy folks with nothing better to do; the kind of people that talked tough and loud, but that would immediately piss themselves at seeing little James lifting an anvil with no issue. However, there had been a handful of people who had attempted to hurt who they thought were the most helpless members of the Saviors of the World: Pepper and her son. Needless to say, those people had been in for the surprise of their sorry lives.

Nonetheless, the innate fear that something or someone would harm her son was always present in the devoted mother of the wealthiest (read: the most tempting to be kidnapped and held for ransom) toddler in the world.

"Rhodey?" even though her voice was firm, her eyes said it all: her paranoia was setting in. She gazed towards her son's room, swallowed hard, forgot all about the jar of pickles, and then raised her arm with the intention of calling for her suit once more.

"Whoa, Pepper! Slow down. Relax," Rhodey pressed his hands on her shoulders, his face serene despite his own concerns bubbling inside. He looked at her in the eye, smiled at her, and then finished his sentence. "It's probably Glenda, wanting to know why the hell you're undoing what she did for you."

It took her a second to process his words, but once she did, she allowed herself to exhale and smile.

"Yeah, you're probably right," she exhaled again, this time slowly, to calm her nerves. Her moment of relaxation only lasted a nanosecond, however, as a second ringing of the doorbell set her partly on edge once more.

"Jimmy's gonna wake up with that," she added.

"Let me get it," Rhodey said, already halfway to the front door.

The redhead pulled a bar stool, sat on it, and then narrowed her eyes when she saw Rhodey's shoulders suddenly squaring as soon as he had opened the door.

"What are you doing here, man?" Rhodey said between gritted teeth and began closing the door. "Get the hell out of here!"

"No, I… let me see her, please."

"NO! I thought we made it clear that you can't be here. Ever!"

"Rhodey, listen: you don't understand. I–"

The inventor's words died on his lips when his eyes landed on Pepper standing behind Rhodey's protective stance by the front door. For an instant, Tony forgot how to breathe and his mouth went dry.

After receiving that last attack from Doctor Doom during the battle, something had happened to his mind; something very similar to the nightmare/trance that Doom had put him under the very first time they had crossed paths. Memories, moments of his life, had begun replaying as if he were living them again, but leaving him unaware that he had already experienced them – as if they were taking place for the first time. And they had all revolved around Pepper.

Every moment since he had met her that she had been in danger because of him, every time her life had been threatened had played over again, only instead of being saved at the last moment, just as what really happened, he had been forced to witness himself fail his redhead on each and every occurance. He had been made to watch Pepper perish over a dozen times: sliced to pieces by the stone swords of the Dreadknights from the first temple; eaten whole by Fin Fang Foom; cut into vertical halves by Rhona Erwin's laserbeam during her deadly trivia games; slaughtered by the Makluan champion, the Berserker; murdered by the Ghost; devoured by the E-Zombies… and so on.

To have called the experience unbearable would have been to describe it in the most optimistic terms imaginable. He had been left with no other option but to forget everything in his life that had any ties to Pepper Potts, rather than face the enormity of the numerous times he had been made to believe he had failed her. He dared anyone to not take the same action if put in his position. He just needed to convince everyone, convince her, that his memories had been restored.

He tried taking a step closer towards the entrance of the home, but Rhodey placed both of his hands against the hero's chest, pushed on him with all his strength, and was successful in forcing Tony to take several steps back.

"Tony, either you leave on your own right now, or we'll call the cops."

"I remember," Tony's eyes were glued to Pepper's, nothing Rhodey was threatening him with getting through his ears. "I remember everything."

"Not that shit again!" Rhodey snarled. "Dude, don't you even care what your lying does to her? To your son? Don't you give a rat's ass that you're hurting them by coming here? By pretending that you remember them?"

"I do," Tony licked his lips and took a step closer towards Rhodey's unyielding form. "I remember. All of it. I really do. I-I…"

"Daddy?"

Pepper blinked once, her trance over seeing Tony again gone the second she heard James Stark getting involved in the painful situation. She immediately turned around in place, picked up her son from the floor to keep him from trying to reach his father, and then spoke over her shoulder to her friend.

"Please," the ginger began walking away from the door, her son in tow. "Just make him leave. Please."

"No! WAIT!" the blue-eyed boy closed the distance between him and Rhodey, and then began fiercely fighting against the man's blocking attempts. Seeing the genius was gaining ground with how desperate he was becoming, Rhodey began walking away from the front door's threshold, pushing Tony away with him from the door as he did so.

The billionaire, however, was not done speaking his mind.

"Pepper! PEPPER, please! I'm sorry I forgot! But you don't understand! Just, listen! I remember! I remember everything! PEPPER! Please! PLEASE, LISTEN! PLEASE!"

His words, despite how much raw emotion even Rhodey could hear in them, did nothing to stop Pepper from ignoring the genius and walking further into the home.

"Please…" Tony's attempt at reaching the door was once again halted by Rhodey. This time, however, Tony's pushback against Rhodey's chest was not as strong as before. In fact, Rhodey could see the hope being drained from Tony's eyes – a realization that made the agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. momentarily be taken aback.

Tony was searching the depths of his restored mind for something, anything, that would unequivocally prove that he remembered all that he had forgotten. He thought momentarily to mention that the inside of her engagement ring was engraved with the word Pepperony, and that it was the result of an error. However, that information had been shared with others, and so it would have been possible for him to find that out without actually remembering it. It was not enough; he needed something more. He needed something that no one but Pepper and himself knew about. But he could think of nothing.

"I forgot," Tony swallowed hard. "But… Please… forgive me… Pepper…"

Then it dawned on him: what he had to do. He noticed that Pepper was almost near the hallway inside the house, almost out of earshot, his one chance almost completely gone, so he did one of the many things he had never wanted to do: he thrust his knee up into Rhodey's stomach, pushed him to the side, and then ran towards the door.

"Dammit," Rhodey quickly recovered, pulled Tony by the back of his shirt, managed to slow him down, and then again stood between him and the entrance of the home.

"I..." Tony gulped, fixed his eyes on his wife's retreating form, and raised his voice so that there was no mistaking his words to her.

"I remember the smell of your skin. I remember everything. I remember all your moves," his voice began to sound more like a tune than a conversation, "I remember you. I remember the nights, you know I still do."

To Rhodey's surprise, Pepper gasped loudly and stopped her escape. She half-turned to stare at Tony over her right shoulder, and Rhodey eased his grip on him when he realized his estranged friend had started to sing.

Sensing that the need to push and shove his way to his target was now extinct, Tony focused on making sure his redhead understood what was truly taking place at the moment – that she understood that the fog in his mind was finally gone. And he did so, in the only way he knew the message would get through her head: he sang.

"So, if you're feeling lonely, don't. You're the only one I'll ever want. I only wanna make it good. So, if I love you a little more than I should… Please forgive me. I know not what I do. Please forgive me… I can't stop loving you."

When he saw Pepper turn away from him again, Tony felt his one chance was slipping away. The woman hesitantly put down her son back onto the floor to keep him from seeing her streaming tears so as to not upset him further. The little boy remained by his mother's leg; his fists full of her dress, his eyes intently watching his father's glistening ones.

"Don't…" Tony's voice was starting to break. He faltered for a moment, doubt growing in him that his efforts would work. But after six months of lying to himself, and of hurting the people he loved most in his life, the least he could do was to give it one last try.

"Don't deny me, this pain I'm going through. Please forgive me, if I need you like I do. Oh, believe me. Every word I say is true. Please forgive me, I can't stop loving you."

The silence that followed allowed Pepper to close her eyes and for the memory of their night together by the beach on her island to come crashing back to her. It was there, clear as day, the images of her and Tony dancing to that song, his voice in her ear singing the lyrics to her, just as he was doing now. She did not want to believe it, though. She did not want to fall for it again. It was too much to take in. It was not a disappointment she wanted to face yet again.

She opened her eyes once more, swallowed down the knot in her throat, and as she was about to tell Tony for the millionth time to just leave them alone, her son's gasp of surprise prevented her from making the biggest mistake of her life.

"Mama! Daddy's back!"

She did not even try to stop her son when he ran towards his father, as fast as his little legs could take him, only to be picked up by him and become a victim of Tony's kiss and hug attack. Instead, the redhead remained where she stood and began sobbing loudly; her hands covering her face, and her shoulders shaking in a painful manner.

"Mama, look!" the little boy could not hug his father any tighter than he already was. The duo began taking small steps towards the ginger – wary steps that Rhodey did not dare to stop.

"He's back, Mama! Daddy's back!"

She could feel him coming closer to her, but she refused to face him just yet. She knew what he would see. She knew that her current state would call his bluff. And even if he had somehow managed to fool her son, she refused to be played with as well.

"Pep," his voice was soft, as if he knew she would take flight with the wrong move or word. "I'm here. I'm back. I'm finally home."

Home, it took all of her self-control not to scoff at the mention of a place she had been unable to define or find for herself.

When she continued to give her back to him, Tony slowly rounded her position until he finally stood in front of her, and then gasped.

Knowing what was about to take place, Rhodey made a beeline to where Tony and Pepper were standing, snatched James from Tony's arms, and then quickly left the living room with the boy. The redhead, still unable to face Tony, began crying aloud when, in such close proximity to him, and now that she allowed herself to use her aura-scanning abilities, she finally saw what her son had seen, seconds ago: she finally realized that her husband had, in fact and despite all odds, truly returned to them. The old Tony Stark's aura was pouring out of him.

"You-you came back."

Tony nodded even though she was yet to stare at him, swallowed hard, took a step closer to her, and then spoke softly once more.

"I always do. As long as you're here, I'll come back."

Pepper held back a sob, quickly remembering that this statement of his was something he had told her once before: in the Makluan Temple, shortly after Ghost had nearly killed her, and she had been forced to let Tony go on a mission almost immediately after finding out who he really was – and before he had had the time to recover from a nearly fatal attack.

"But…" he breathed hard, his eyes glued to her midsection, "Am I late? Am I too late? Are you and Rhodey… did you…"

Hesitatingly, Pepper placed her palms over her bulging pregnant belly. She rubbed it lightly, inhaled deeply, shook her head, and then finally locked eyes with the man standing before her – her dear friend, her beloved husband, and the man she had begrudgingly come to believe that she would never see again.

"She…" she gulped. "She went with us… to Latveria."

If Tony's eyes had not been attached to his brain, they would have certainly popped out of their sockets just about now.

"Lat-Latveria? She?"

Tony placed his shaky hands on Pepper's belly, rubbed it lightly and fondly a few times, and then awed at the wonder of it.

"How… why… why did you still–"

"I didn't know," she confessed. "I mean, why would I even think I was? We… we made sure that… that…"

"Extremis," Tony blurted out, quickly putting together how this miracle had come to be. He alternated between staring at her confused hazel eyes, and at her pregnant bump as he continued to explain.

"I hesitated. That night. The night before you left Muir Island. I wished I could have more kids with you. I wished you'd get pregnant again."

"But your Extremis had been shut down by then."

"But it wasn't the first time I'd wished that. I… I should've double-checked that the medical procedure was still in place, knowing damn well how Extremis works, how it can turn back on if desired, how it can repair damage to my body, but… but…"

"But then," she placed her hands on his, "But then little Maria Stark wouldn't be on her way here right now."

He lifted his head and gaze from her bump to stare at his wife, words almost leaving him at her kind gesture and thoughtful surprise. He spared a glance towards the temporary home of his future daughter – his daughter – and then smiled.

"Jill," he said, adding the name of Pepper's birth mother made sense to him. "Maria Jill Stark."

"Tony…"

"It feels right," his hands moved from her belly to the sides of her face. "It just feels right."

"I'm sorry I left," the redhead was barely able to say between tears, her palms now resting on his chest. "I didn't want to scare you… if you saw… if you found out that I was–"

"I know, Pep. I can see that now," he pressed his forehead against hers and closed his eyes, immediately enjoying the almost forfeited feel of his skin against hers. "And I'm sorry I forgot. That I made myself forget. I thought it was for the best. I thought I was making it easier on you… but I was stupid. I was very stupid. I just… It would've never worked. I just… I just can't live without you, Pepper Potts."

"And neither can I live without you, Tony Stark."

"Then how about we don't?"

She chuckled. "It sounds like a plan."

The two heroes remained in each other's company for a long while, unwilling to move an inch or even open their eyes lest this all turned out to be a façade. It was not likely at all, Tony knew this for a fact, but the fear that he would suddenly wake up to find out that Pepper had truly moved on without him was just too overpowering to ignore. Not to mention: he did not want to tempt the gods of fate.

There were still questions that needed to be asked, answers that needed to be given, and apologies to make. Yet, at the moment, he just wanted to drown in her scent, merge with her skin, and breathe the same air as her. He just wanted to feel full of life, showered with love, and finally be free to be as happy as he could ever be.

With her.

With their son.

And soon with their daughter as well.

Not surprisingly, not at all shocking to anyone: it was the same things she wanted with him.

A/N: Is that a little better on your hearts as an ending? I certainly hope it was. But, before we say goodbye to this story, just one last thing…